Sugar - 840 Reviews

My buddy Dave said it best. His review of this drink was, "You can really taste the 11% sugar." This might be some of the sweetest coffee drink I've ever had. Jay, Dave, Editor Dan, and I went to a couple stores and just hung out all day. It would have been the same day we had when we were ten years ago. A couple small markets, clothing stores, the mall, and so on. Bunch of dudes hanging out. Oh, and Chili's. We all love Chili's. We easily co-drank two gallons of unsweetened blackberry tea that day.

Anyhow, we went to a favorite Asian market and did some shopping and this was one of the drinks we got. Dave got one as well as I and he drank his in the car. We spread it all around because we're all very good friends. Everyone's sentiments were all the same. It's too darn sweet. It's got a good iced black tea taste but the quantity of sugar will inevitably put the majority of this drink down the drain, on the parking lot next to you car where you bought it, rudely on some kid's head, on your table because you accidentally knocked it over forgetting there was still so much in there, or anywhere else that isn't down your gullet.

I don't know what is happening to me, but lately I have found myself craving mocha. Either iced or hot will do, I just want to taste that flavor on my palate. As a non-coffee drinker I find this odd. I still find the idea of regular coffee uninviting.

The urge hit me today and I was lucky enough to be able to visit a Sheetz on my travels. Next to QT and Wawa, Sheetz is the third best gas station mini mart I have ever visited, and I've been to way more than any human ever really should. Even though we don't often review store brand beverages, I felt I owed it to them for being such a great little establishment.

The drink wasn't as great as I had expected it to me. I tasted things in this order: milk, sugar, chocolate and then coffee. It was more like sweetened chocolate milk than a coffee drink. Had some of the milk been replaced by a bit more coffee this would have been infinitely better. I also found myself wishing there was a little bit of salt in it. Seeing as I also have been finding myself craving salty chocolate that is not surprising. Someone should really get on making an iced mocha with sea salt. It would be a game changer.

It's a good thing 7-11 isn't known for their lemonade, because this is a sad excuse for one of my favorite drinks. I don't know why I thought this would help my craving, high hopes perhaps? Nevertheless, I think I figured out 7-11's lemonade recipe:

10 parts water
1 part lemon juice
.005 sugar

The only thing I hate more than watered down lemonade, is flat soda. That doesn't make me dislike this lemonade less, but it makes me thankful that I'm not drinking flat soda.

Do you remember the Nestle Quik bunny, aka Quiky? From the 70s to the 90s he worked promoting the Nesquik powders used to flavor milk. He got all caught up in the glamour and in 2001 he hit rock bottom. The drugs, the interspecial relationships, he realized it was all to much for him and that he needed to walk away. Nestle hired a new rabbit (Nesquik) and most of the world never noticed the difference. Fame can do strange things to a bunny, and it takes a big rabbit to know when to extradite yourself from a situation.

Quiky spent a few years traveling the globe trying to find himself. He got clean, and adopted the vegan lifestyle. While visiting Taiwan he met up with the folks at Mong Lee Shang and he worked with them to create an incredible strawberry soymilk. It was essentially the old Nesquik strawberry powder from the 70s mixed in with soymilk, but it was a taste that Quiky had missed and he never thought he would have again. For some reason the company insisted on adding tapioca balls to the drink. Quiky didn't know why, but he had to admit that they added an element of fun to the drink and didn't really havea taste of their own.

Things were looking up for our bunny friend. He was set to appear as spokesperson for this new drink, and the company promised to keep it wholesome. Everything fell apart though when he found out that the drink actually contained caseinate (milk protein), and that it wasn't really vegan at all. Quiky felt like he had been duped and he walked out of the offices of Mong Lee Shang never to be heard from again.

Steve, why did you start brewing the green tea out in the yard? You didn't like the way it made the house smell? Well that is just dumb. Brewing tea smells delicious. In fact I always look forward to coming home from work so I can open up the door and be greeted by that wonderful aroma. Now, my second question; why did you start brewing the green tea out in the yard in the middle of the bee apiary? Oh, that's the only place it would fit where it wouldn't be in the way of your croquet game. I guess that's understandable, but tell me this did you clean the vats out between batches? I mean I know I probably shouldn't have left you in charge for the two months that I was on vacation, but I leave a life of leisure and I need to do that from time to time. The thing is that the bees seemed to have incorporated the vats into their hives and if we want to sell any of this tea we're going to have to filter out the honeycombs and dead bees. Let's just do that and never mention this to anyone else. I just hope the tale of this doesn't end up on some dumb website.

Steve, we've somehow brewed a tea that tastes exactly like Asian green tea. I don't know how to explain the difference between the green tea I brew from a tea bag and the kind you get in a Chinese restaurant, but this is way more like the latter. The bee residue that we filtered out actually gives this a little bit of a honey flavor. I personally like my green tea unsweetened, but I think a lot of people would be into this. It has a medium level of sweetness, which is what many people need for a stepping-stone to the world of unsweetened teas. Your blunder may have actually been a gateway to a healthier America. Good job, son.

"Holiday milk" sounds like the world's most generic product that has ever existed. It sounds like a gimmick that is used to just reel in idiots to think that it's something truly special. I mean chocolate and mint is not specific to any time of year. If it were eggnog or something with nutmeg in it, yeah, I would say that it is limited to Christmas. Chocolate and mint? Please. Give it to me any time of the year. Please. I love those two rascals together

Enough. Alright. Enough. As a product this is an absolute gem. It's smooth chocolate milk with a little bit of mint in it. It's not too much at all. I was actually surprised that they went as subdued as they did with it. Pleased but surprised. Normally the mix is fairly standard. This though, someone tried this one out and knew what they were up to. They didn't just call up Mix Warehouse over on Pine Avenue and order up the old "Chocolate Mint" mix to add to their product. They called up Harold at Mix Warehouse over on Oak Avenue and bought a chocolate and mint mix separately and mixed them to their liking. I know what you're thinking. A lot of streets are named after trees in this town. It happens. Trees are common. I would move to a city with a group of streets named after trees. Better than living in a city with a group of streets named after presidents or fruits. Those, my friends, are almost always bad news.

Blasted ladyfingers. Why? Why do you have to ruin a perfectly good dessert with rum? You turds. Why? I don't eat things cooked in or with alcohol so when I found out that tiramisu swam in the lake of Cap'n Morgan, I swore off the sweet treat for eternity. Honestly, I never was that crazy about it to begin with so not eating it doesn't really affect me but when I came across this little guy in a wondrous Asian market in Toronto with the Thirsty Dude called Jay, I had to buy it.

This drink tastes like tiramisu. It's odd. Cake flavored drink. Oh, I'm sorry, have you had one before? We've had ice cream flavored drinks, Masala flavored drinks, corn flavored drinks, but never cake. Why not? It seems to not be a problem for these guys. Maybe a chocolate cake tea would be nice. Try it. This tea tastes like the cake it's supposed to. I know it's a novel idea since it's a self-proclaimed "Tiramisu" flavored but we drink stuff all the time that doesn't taste like it's supposed to and this isn't exactly a "regular" drink so it could have gone either way. As far as the "milk tea" thing goes, it's more milk than tea but they're both there. A black tea powder (odd) and a skim milk (not odd) make up the base of this.

Also, it should be pointed out that one carton of this is about as bad for you as a slice of real tiramisu so if you are looking for a replacement, this is it, but if you're looking to save on calories, don't bother and eat real cake. If you've got your jaw wired shut like Kanye West before he felt the need to make up for lost time and never shut up, this is your go-to-guy.

I'd like to start off by saying I have zero idea where this drink came from. Editor Dan and I went on an adventure today to explore these gnarly caves. He wanted to take some photos while I just wanted to explore. At some point in our day Dan lost his keys. We retraced our steps and eventually found them at a grocery store (the most unexpected place). Towards the end of our search we were going crazy trying to figure out where they could be and I checked the car again after Dan did. I felt a can under my seat (note, my car is normally very clean with no trash). I thought it was an empty that must have rolled under there from when my ladyfriend and I drove to Virginia a few months ago and trash got thrown everywhere for a few days. When I pulled it out I realized it was full, and more startling that I have never set my eyes on this can before. I don't know how it got in my car, and I sat there puzzled for a moment before I cracked it open and started drinking it. I came to the conclusion that the drink gods were smiling on me for helping a friend to find his keys.

Apparently the drink gods appreciated that I helped out, but not enough to give me a great drink. What I got was on the lower end of mediocre. I've had guarana drinks before, so I knew what I was getting into. If you want to know, think of fruitier Kola Champagne. This particular brand had a general sweet soda taste that was followed by a fruity bubble gum aftertaste. It's not particularly my cup of tea, but I can see where it might appeal to some people. I wonder if I keep doing good deeds if the portal to the drink realm will open in my car again. It's gotta be good for something.

Fuze went a bit overboard and tried to mix ten million flavors together, and by ten million I mean six. There is a lot of text in this ingredients list and since most of it is fruit juice concentrate one would think that this would be a decent drink. Then you look at a different spot on the label and realize that there is only 5% juice in here. That's a lot of different juices to use to make a drink that is 95% other junk. It shows in the flavor too. It tastes thin and cheap. It tastes like generic fruit drink. These are not things that I look for in a beverage. This could have been in a giant gallon jug at a gas station and I would not have batted an eye. Okay, I would have because it isn't as thick as those beverages, but you get the idea. Sorry Fuze, you have not won me over with this one.

The text, much like the whippets at the Gathering of the Juggalos, don't stop. Non-stop text on this can. You want some ingredients? What languages don't you speak? This can't got 'em all, son. That's just number one right off the bat. I'm not penalizing Hype for it, just pointing it out. Oh, see that can with all the text on it? Yeah, don't worry about reading it. It's an energy drink.

Taste: Not terrible. I like it more than Red Bull. It's an energy drink so you know the overall flavor. This has a bit more, dare I say, "fruit." They have an organic version that Jay reviewed that might allow fruit not to be in quotes. I went to lunch and came back and took another sip and it was pretty vile. I'm not penalizing them for that, either. It wasn't refrigerated so that was on me. That's a free poisoning from me to you, Hype.

Honestly, I didn't hate it. If hype men like Flava Flav, Dapwell from Das Racist, or Bushwick Bill pushed this drink on me, I would say, "Gentlemen. No need to yell. I'm on board. Stop drinking this energy drink and maybe sit down with some tea. You need to relax. No, Dap, that was not a pun on your group's fantastic major label release."

I stopped by Aldi today to pick up some more bottles of that Pumpkin Cider before the season ended, and they were gone. Bummer. I did find this iced coffee while I was there. I recently read a handful of books that take place in New Orleans, so the French name Beaumont stuck out to me. I was hoping that this was a product from Louisiana so that it would have chicory in it. I've never had it in coffee, but the way everyone I know who was tried it has talked about it that coffee seems like something I need try it. Unfortunately Beaumont is just a name and this is made in Illinois.

I may have been left with a chicory free coffee, but what I did have in front of me was one that was nicely flavored with Dutch cocoa. Let it be known that anyone who is a serious coffee drinker would probably think this was gross, but I liked it. Sure it had way too much milk in it and was overly sweetened, but when you're not 100% on board with coffee it's a nice gateway. The cocoa also gave it a nice chocolate taste, which didn't hurt. The more I drank, the more I realized exactly how much milk was in this, and I would say “Hey Beaumont, cut it out with the dairy!”

Every morning I get up, use the facilities, pour myself a bowl of store brand Cinnamon Toast Crunch with unsweetened almond milk and check the internets. It's a ritual that I need in my life. When I'm out of town I try to mimic it as best I can, and if my body is not satisfied, it's going to be a rough day. I need to change up this ritual a bit and add a glass of juice to it. How great is juice? It tastes great, and if you drink the right kind it can be great for you.

I decided to start this change today with this can of mango nectar. Unfortunately this isn't the healthiest of juice due to the unnecessarily added sugar. It's also only 25% juice. When a company brags that their juice is not from concentrate I feel like it should be 100% juice. Oh well.

Mangos and pineapple both have this weird thing where they occasionally smell vaguely like vomit. I don't know what causes it, and I don't know if anyone else has the same reaction as me. One would think that if something has that scent it would be absolutely disgusting, not me. I love both fruits and all their juices. This falls on the average side of mango juices. Sure it tastes like mango, but it doesn't taste like you just bit into the fruit, which is what I'm always looking for in a juice. I guess you shouldn't expect much when juice comes in a can.

In 1998 Public Enemy released the album “It Takes a Nation of a Million to Hold Us Back.” In the lyrics of the second single from the album Chuck D very emphatically tells to listeners not to believe the hype. Very wise words from a wise man. Listen to Chuck because he knows what he's talking about when it comes to socio-political topics and those same sentiments can also be used when reviewing energy drinks. Hype Organic was great, this one, not so much. It has a traditional energy drink flavor (aka Red Bull/every generic energy drink ever), but it has less candy flavor and more “energy flavor.” It makes sense because it is their maximum energy blend. I could have used more on the flavor side of things, but if I had to trade off some flavor for an energy drink that works well, I can handle that.

Hype will probably focus on some particular lines from the previously mentioned Public Enemy song: “All the critics you can hang'em, I'll hold the rope.” Lucky for me they are in the Netherlands.

I was just thinking of how many times I could write the word "wonderful" before you stopped reading. Then I thought that would be a terrible, albeit factual review. In exchange, I will do a review titled: "Some of the best chocolate drink that has ever passed these lips"

This chocolate drink, for some reason not called chocolate milk, is simply splendid. It is smooth, creamy, and has bits of badam in it. "What is badam?" you ask? Almonds, friend. Almonds. And "bits" is a good way to describe them. They are super tiny and in some sips, non-existent. To further extend the experimentation of what we do here at Thirsty Dudes, a friend of "the dudes" poured a quarter of his half of the drink into the remnants of his coffee making a rather delicious mocha.

I bought this at an Indian market and you should, too. Seriously, you should. Five bottles. You know what that means, right? It means quit your job and go buy some chocolate drink!

If you've never had the joy of trying bubble tea, let me try and explain it for you. It starts off with a nice black or green tea (I personally always go for the green), then a shot of syrup or powder flavoring is mixed in. These flavors can be all over the map, there are fruits such as kiwi and guava, there is chocolate, there is even taro root. I've never had a flavor that I haven't liked. There are some that are milk based as well, but who really needs to mess with something like that?

One would think that this would be enough to have a nice flavored tea, but one would also be wrong. The true joy of bubble tea is the “bubbles,” which aren't bubbles at all but pearls of tapioca. I understand that it sounds completely disgusting and I was hesitant to try it at first myself, but they are wonderful and incredibly fun. The tapioca balls are fairly flavorless, so they just add a texture and entertainment (they make the best spit balls you have ever seen). The first time I had bubble tea I didn't realize you were supposed to chew the pearls, so like the idiot I am I swallowed them whole and felt terrible afterwards. After a whole lot of mocking from my friends I tried it again and with some chewing I grew to love it. I bet you will too.

Why am I talking so much about this Asian delicacy? Well that would be because this tea tastes exactly like my flavor of choice at my local bubblery. 95% of the time when I get bubble tea I'm going to go with the passion fruit. What can I say? I have a weakness. I was shocked at how much this tasted exactly like bubble tea, which tastes slightly different than just normal flavored tea. It probably has something to do with the way they flavor it. If this had been poured into a glass with some pearls in it and served to me I would never have guessed that it wasn't from a bubble tea place. It's a very sweet green tea, with a flavor that tastes exactly like passion fruit. It's one of my new favorites. Too bad I've only found it at a market in Toronto.

Also, when I was entering the company information for this review I saw that the web address www.bubbletea123.com was listed on the packaging. It's good to know that my taste buds are working just fine.

You know what I hate? I hate when people get perfume in my pop. I absolutely hate it. I often leave open bottles of pop on the floor at grandmother's homes and you know how grandmas are. They spray that perfume on with a Super Soaker before raging at the Bingo parlor, just gallon after gallon of lavender and Chanel No. 5.

I must have accidentally left this bottle open at everyone's grandmother's house in Western New York before I drank it because this drink tastes like a slew of different old women. It was a lot like the Pakola Ice Cream pop that we drank many moons ago. It tastes nothing like you would expect and everything like you don't want. Not a strong sales approach.

I love that southern hip-hop culture is basically responsible for the entire existence of relaxation drinks. If you're not well versed on this, a lot of rappers talk about drinking cough syrup mixed with soda in their songs. It is commonly known as Drank, which I believe was also the name of the first relaxation drink. Lean named their various flavors of relaxation drinks after the different preferences different regions of the south had for their syrup. Lean cuts out the cough syrup and instead uses flavor syrup mixed with some pharmaceutical grade herbs. This way kids won't overdose on their syrup, and they can buy it over the counter.

Easta Pink was inspired by Lil Weezie. In it's original form it is cough syrup, Sprite, two Jolly Ranchers and some Skittles. The sounds like a sugar overload to me. While the Lean version is still very sweet, it has a very unique taste that doesn't remind me anything of Jolly Ranchers. If I had to pinpoint the flavor I would say that it was a can of Sprite that had those old timey strawberry hard candies melted into it. It's surprisingly tasty, and it will chill you right out. Here's to hoping that the reign of energy drinks is coming to an end and the world will just start to move in slow motion for a bit.

I sat down at my desk while I was drinking this pondering what exactly I had to say about this beverage when my decision was made for me. I had put it down after taking a sip to open up my browser and my cat, Other Barry, jumped up and instantly started licking it. After that there was no stopping him. It was like a killer dog getting itâ…‚¬…„¢s first taste of blood. Barry needed more and he needed it instantly. I kept pulling it away from him and he kept moving towards the bottle. I covered the top with my hand and he started pawing at me to get me to move it. When I finally put the cap back on, he just started gnawing at the bottle to get the sweet nectar that was inside. Heâ…‚¬…„¢s not the type of cat to eat â…‚¬Å“people food,â…‚¬Â so Fitness Edge should take it as a great compliment.

I donâ…‚¬…„¢t know if cats taste the same things us humans do, but to me this tastes like a decent berry juice with whole milk mixed in. Thatâ…‚¬…„¢s the whey protein doing its work. I normally not a fan of protein drinks, because I think milk is gross, and whey is grosser still. The berry in this does a good job masking the whey, but itâ…‚¬…„¢s still there. That weird thick chalky aftertaste as if itâ…‚¬…„¢s starting to spoil is just not for me. Keep in mind this drink isnâ…‚¬…„¢t as bad as others I have tried, so I will give it decent marks. I mean itâ…‚¬…„¢s a drink with a certain function, so you should expect some sort of weird taste to it. Iâ…‚¬…„¢d give this a three, but Other Barry would give it top marks. Heâ…‚¬…„¢s still trying to break into the bottle.

Since I don't watch Canadian television much I'm not sure if this has happened or not, but it really should. Picture this: a fade in with some synth bass and a drum machine playing in the background. The scene is young women's bedroom and she's laying in her bed wearing a ripped up shirt and way too much jewelry. As it pans in we realize that it's Madonna (well a 1986 Madonna look alike) and she's getting frustrated playing around with a keyboard and sheets of music and lyrics litter the room. She just can't seem to write her next big hit. She decides she needs to take a break so she goes over to the fridge and pulls out a bottle of juice. She takes a sip and inspiration hits her. Just like that. She runs over to her bed aka workstation with a big goofy grin and starts working feverishly. By the end she's playing along and singing with the song that has been playing in the background and just as it gets to the end of the chorus and she sings the line “True Blue baby I love you,” the camera zooms in on the now mostly finished bottle of juice on her nightstand. It doesn't get better than that ladies and gentlemen. You get one hell of a song, one hell of a drink and a nice 80's throwback that all the kids are raving about these days.

I know what you're thinking and yes I am available to write ads for you as well, just get a hold of my agent. Oh, that's not what you were thinking at all? You actually want to know what the juice tastes like? Well, it certainly tastes blue, with a little purple in the mix. You see True Blue went a bit out of their color spectrum and used grape juice as filler in this drink. You can really taste both the blue and blackberries in this, but the taste of grape is always lingering in the background. I have no problem with that uninvited little fruit. It's actually kind of nice. It's also not as sweet as you would expect it to be. There is still 29g of sugar in this, but it doesn't taste that sweet. It's always a nice treat to not have an overly sweetened juice. Oh and if you spill any of this on a carpet or a couch, forget about ever getting it out. This blue is true and is staining forever.

I've been a big fan of the other two Capone sodas I've had, and while this is not bad by any means it leaves a bit to be desired. The vanilla and sweet soda flavors are both there, but they are both just kind of …€¦ separate. They don't really blend together the way I want them to. It is certainly better than any sort of store brand cream soda, but for what I was expecting from the ginger beer and root beer it's just not quite there. I'm guessing that everyone out there will probably enjoy this a great deal. Comparison and expectations will just be the death of me.